The CEC website is considered the world’s view on the CEC and at the same time it represents an indicator to the extent of intercommunication between all elections stakeholders whether they are voters, observers, political parties, candidates or the media with the CEC. The website also contains valuable information and statistics on elections in general that may be of great use to researchers and those interested in the electoral process.
Working on the web design commenced in October, 2005 i.e. three months before the latest PLC elections as part of the media and educational activities carried out by the CEC in preparations for the Legislative elections. The CEC added all elections information on its website and are available in both English and Arabic.
The Website content
The CEC website contains a number of elections information, documents, statistics, decrees and laws as well as maps for the West Bank and Gaza Strip districts. It also contains several nomination and accreditation applications forms of local and international observation bodies. The CEC has made sure right from the beginning to publish on its website the preliminary and final candidates' lists after publishing the total number of registrants in the voters list and the detailed numbers of registrants per district.
The website also contains all publications and flyers issued by the CEC whether they are educational or polling and counting procedures guidebooks. It also includes a number of elections photos for all stages of the electoral process.
Following the end of the 2006 second PLC elections and right after the announcement of the final elections results, the CEC published the detailed elections results to enable all web visitors to view and have them. It also published the final detailed results according to the population centers and polling stations. A summary of the female winning candidates in the elections was also published in addition to a list of the elected PLC members.
On the local elections level, the CEC published all statistics and results pertaining to previous elections rounds in addition to a list of localities where elections are yet to be held as well as publishing the Local councils' Elections Law No. (10) of 2005.
The services offered by the CEC website
The CEC website offered a number of services that were of great benefit for journalists, observers and website visitors during the latest PLC elections. On the media level, the website enabled media representatives to submit their accreditation applications online without having to go to CEC district offices and based on the applications submitted online the CEC issued accreditation cards for journalists.
Through the website, voters can find out their polling center by entering their ID card number or the registration slip number.
Website users can also get the latest elections news and announcements by subscribing to the CEC mailing list. The Arabic version of the website also contains a special section on the Saint Lague method for the allocation of seats obtained by electoral lists. Each visitor can try this method through an electronic program that calculates the number of seats based on the information entered.
Website statistics
The CEC website receives a lot of attention from all internet users. During the latest PLC elections held on January 25,2006, the number of voters who benefited from the " find your polling center" service reached 84 thousand users and more than 5600 users benefited from " send this page to a friend via el-mail" service. During last June, more than 167 thousand visitors logged into the CEC website.